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Have You Written Any Fiction Kindle Ebooks?

by Dayne Dylan Banned
16 replies
Hey Warriors, I'm thinking of diving into doing some short fiction and am thinking about doing it through Kindle or Kindle Singles (I'm actually not sure of the actual difference between the two). This will be more for fun than anything.

Just curious if you have published any fiction and if you have, how many pages (in Word) are your own books and how did you get anyone to even read your stuff?

Any tips or advice?

Thanks!
Dayne
#ebooks #fiction #kindle #written
  • Profile picture of the author sniperdomi
    I helped my dad to get his sale or is book.

    it is in french, so the market might be a little different.

    But, what I did is building him a site and show him how to really brand his pen name throught article marketing and social media.


    He is the best seller here, but he has sold almost one 600 books.

    so what I would advice you is to get a good keyword research before building your site, and also study your market to know how to position yourself in this business.

    hope that helps
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  • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
    I've got 10 fiction titles up on Kindle. They vary from 3000 words to 140,000.
    I've got two complete novels, two novellas and six short stories. The shorts average around 10,000 words.
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  • Profile picture of the author D111
    Hey Dayne,

    You might want to check out "How I Sold 1 Million eBooks In 5 Months." By John Locke.
    The author is a kindle publisher who writes fiction novels.
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    • Profile picture of the author TinkBD
      Originally Posted by D111 View Post

      Hey Dayne,

      You might want to check out "How I Sold 1 Million eBooks In 5 Months." By John Locke.
      The author is a kindle publisher who writes fiction novels.
      Just keep in mind that John Locke is currently being crucified because he bought reviews and then wrote this book without admitting to that.

      There are some other good and similar books that are more transparent, such as using KDP Select...

      How I Made Over $42, 000 in 1 Month Selling My...How I Made Over $42, 000 in 1 Month Selling My...
      NOT an affiliate ling, btw ;-)

      Dean Wesley Smith has awesome info on his blog and his book - How to Think like a Publisher is a MUST READ

      http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/

      His wife's blog is also valuable

      The Business Rusch: No Reader Left Behind « Kristine Kathryn Rusch

      They both are tackling the issues of indie publishing VS legacy publishing.

      Now to get back to your original question regarding short fiction -- there are a number of people doing well with short fiction, but it depends on the quality of their writing AND presentation

      Also, genre seems to be an issue also.

      Another way to use shorter works is to use them for promotion. I am getting ready to publish 4-5 works in a series all at once, with more on the way. I am using the shorter works to promote the novels...

      I have also read of established indie authors doing a series of short works. One example was publishing one per week for a number of weeks I don't remember how many... maybe around 8? Not a route I would go without writing EVERYTHING ahead of time... but that's me! LOLOL

      Best of luck. It can be done successfully, but it take work and research. Do your homework. ;-)
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      • Profile picture of the author D111
        [QUOTE=TinkBD;7296002]Just keep in mind that John Locke is currently being crucified because he bought reviews and then wrote this book without admitting to that.

        Had no idea that was the case or I wouldn't have mentioned it. Thanks for the update.
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  • Profile picture of the author lastdual
    "Make A Killing On Kindle" by Michael Alvear has some good, practical tactics that can be used (along with a few that you shouldn't use, but most of the info is solid).
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  • Profile picture of the author LarryC
    I have both fiction and nonfiction on Kindle. So far, I'm finding it much more challenging to sell the novels. Maybe it's because nonfiction books can be targeted by keywords and interests more easily. I know people are succeeding with fiction too, but I'm still working on cracking that code.
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    Content Writing, Ghostwriting, eBooks, editing, research.
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  • Profile picture of the author GoodFE
    Just need to have a look what sells and try your best to top it. Quite a lot of people post poorly written books on Kindle with terrible covers and then when they make no sales they wonder what has gone wrong.
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  • Profile picture of the author AnneE
    I have 3 children's fiction books on Kindle:

    Amazon.com: anne emerick: Kindle Store

    and am selling some copies -- but not enough to make any big purchases.

    The Day I Met Dr. SeussThe Day I Met Dr. Seuss sells the best, probably based on the general appeal to all ages and a popular, unique topic that's been search-engine optimized

    Poster Girl Poster Girl which I had published years ago as a paperback and still market the paperback version sells next best, probably because it has some outside review sources.

    There is an epublishing section on the forum on AbsoluteWrite.com and a few writers are making a full-time income just from writing and publishing Kindle fiction. It's been hard to determine exactly what is the winning formula, whether there was an optimum time to jump into Kindle (before everyone else was), whether some genres are hotter than others on Kindle, obviously a great cover helps.

    Here's a guest blog post I wrote about some success stories:
    What's Lurking in Your Desk Drawer? Four Authors' Success Stories

    I do think with Amazon, whether Kindle or not, that like a lot of things, success brings more success. If you can sell enough to start getting ranked in a category, that helps. If enough people buy your book, then it starts to show up under the "People Who Looked At this Item Also Bought"

    One of the toughest things is getting legitimate fiction reviews.

    One thing is for sure. Kindle Fiction Publishing is a whole lot more rewarding and friendly than submitting to traditional publishers!
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    • Profile picture of the author aprilm
      I have yet to publish fiction. I have only uploaded non fiction thus far, though I have written a non fiction novel, just haven't published it on Kindle yet. The fiction novel I wrote is around 30,000 words. The non fiction books I have on Kindle are shorter....around 10,000, and one is around 7000 words and approximately 40 or so pages in Open Office.


      There are different ways you can go about getting your books read. Some of the methods I use involve list building, branding and social media, as well as enrolling my books into KDP Select. Some people say not to enroll because you can't publish anywhere else while your book is enrolled, but I think there are a lot of benefits to offering your book free for a short period of time.

      Self publishing really is a learning experience. Good luck to you!
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  • Profile picture of the author fern
    I have a few kindle fiction books up. They are more short stories than novellas. Most are less than 30 pages in length. After you publish to kindle, you can submit your book as a kindle single.

    I have yet to write a full length novel or novella but I think short stories sell well too. Lots of people like reading on their commute, lunch break, or whenever they have a few extra minutes. Just make sure you state that it is a short story and give a word count in your description so the buyer knows what they are getting. If its a kindle single, most buyers are familiar with the short story or essay format. I still inform them on the length so as to not get any refunds.
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    • Profile picture of the author richrowley
      I have both Fiction and non fiction on Kindle.

      Non Fiction is doing better for me due to the keyword research I have done but the non fiction was a lot more fun.

      Interstingly I have also put some of my books on Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple etc and their sales are really giving my income a boost!
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  • Profile picture of the author Lou Murphy
    90% of my books are fiction.

    Typically I find books that are over 30,000 words sell the best.

    The only method I have ever really used to gain exposure is to contact lots of bloggers offering them a review copy.
    I actually normally outsource this part to my VA. She first of all researches all the bloggers in my genre, compiles an excel spreadsheet with link to blog + contact info, then sends out a prewritten email to each one of them.

    Make sure the book is good though! Because you are of course not paying them, and bloggers are honest with their readers.

    One tip to get more reviews, and not just ordinary reviews but authoritative reviews, is to go to the top reviewers section of Amazon: Amazon's Top Customer Reviewers.

    A review from one of these types of reviewers will hold a lot more weight and social proof than the average buyer.

    The trick here is approaching the ones who have shown an interest in reviewing:
    a) books
    b) preferably books of your genre
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeff Olah
    Dwayne,

    I am in the midst of my for Fictiion story an as stated above "Make A Killing On Kindle" by Michael Alvear has some practical advise for getting started right. For $4.99 you can't beat the price.

    Take care

    Jeff
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  • Profile picture of the author Dude-Dastic
    Just so you know, it's difficult to a book to become a Kindle Single. It's a special program that has gatekeepers. Some Amazon employees read book submissions and they determine which books are accepted into the program.
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  • Profile picture of the author Shea
    I've thought about it for sure..Just never feel like I have the free time these days to write fiction.
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